Upcoming Wolverine film leaks to BitTorrent (Updated)

[Updated] A premature version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked to BitTorrent …

Editor's Note: The original version of this story, which you can find here, erroneously linked the Wolverine movie leak with an FBI datacenter raid in Dallas. Ars Technica regrets the error.

On April Fools Day this week, BitTorrent users were having fun at the expense of anything but a joke: copies of an unfinished version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked to the Internet.

Wolverine first leaked to BitTorrent on April Fools, allegedly in DVD quality. This version is said to be incomplete, however, with a number of missing scenes, unfinished special effects, and scores from other films spliced in for portions of the soundtrack. Nevertheless, the leaked Wolverine was promptly downloaded over 75,000 times within the first few hours of its premature Internet debut.

20th Century Fox issued a statement later that day about the leak, acknowledging that an "early version" of Wolverine has been "posted illegally on websites." The studio also fired a warning shot across the bow of whoever leaked it, stating that "we forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." Fox also mentions that the MPAA and FBI are investigating the crime, and that it will "prosecute the source and any subsequent postings to the fullest extent of the law."

Naturally, 20th Century Fox is none too happy about the leak, which contains watermarks from Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), an Australian special effects studio working on parts of the film. However, Chairman and co-founder Tony Clark released a statement on RSP's website that his company had nothing to do with leaking Wolverine. "As we worked on individual sequences within the film, neither RSP or its staff members have ever been in possession of a full-length version, so it would have been impossible for the movie to have been leaked from here."

More than likely, 20th Century Fox is most worried about a film leaking out before much of its fit and polish (and even some of its core components) were added. But as we have seen in recent years, movie piracy has not seemed to cause the industry much harm. The MPAA touted record box office sales of $9.63 billion and $9.78 billion in 2007 and 2008, respectively, suggesting that this leak may not have much of an effect on X-Men Origins: Wolverine this summer.

43 Reader Comments

Well, thats nice. Cue up the lawsuits. Since the datacenter is an ISP, unless they were directly involved, they have protection under the DMCA. That just leaves the FBI to sue. You would think that after all the times law enforcement has jumped the gun, they would learn some patience. And what does the MPAA think the watermarks are going to prove? The people pirating the movie in the first place probably work at the company that puts in the watermarks. And even if they learn where the movie came from, it was the act of an individual not the post production house.

These dipshits cut 911 services in the name of almighty Fox,I hope like all hell there is someone in that area with the balls to sue Fox and the FBI,and that the jury isn't packed with the usual morons with IQ's equal to their shoesize.

Exactly the same happened when TPB got raided. Everything at the data center was confiscated (and some stuff was never returned). Comment from the police was that civlians have to tolerate suffering in order to protect IP rights...

That's what I was missing, too. This appears to not only have nothing to do with Wolverine, but nothing to do with Fox or anyone in the movie industry. What made you draw that connection? Is there a piece of the story I missed?

Hmmm, I was thinking about boycotting the film until the 'Verizon and AT&T being cheated' update. Still, the FBI disruption hosed a bunch of innocent customers and likely hurt their businesses. That's pretty messed up. I think I'll boycott the film anyway since the previews I saw left a lot to be desired.

You'd think that the FBI (which obviuosly runs data centers of their own) would know that what they are looking for is contained on only a FREAKING SMALL PORTION of the data center they raided. They should still get sued for the wanton destruction of businesses and the interruption of emergency services. The idiot who ordered this raid needs to be fired (and never let near ANY law enforcement agency ever again), and reparations need to be made to all the businesses that were harmed. This is downright idiotic for so much to be disrupted for a fraud scheme.

Originally posted by Mythical1:You'd think that the FBI (which obviuosly runs data centers of their own) would know that what they are looking for is contained on only a FREAKING SMALL PORTION of the data center they raided. They should still get sued for the wanton destruction of businesses and the interruption of emergency services. The idiot who ordered this raid needs to be fired (and never let near ANY law enforcement agency ever again), and reparations need to be made to all the businesses that were harmed. This is downright idiotic for so much to be disrupted for a fraud scheme.

I'm usually not one of those "HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE LEGAL?!?!?!" people, but in this case, I agree fully. How is it legal for the FBI to just come in and take dozens of servers, many of which might not be related to the Wolverine leak\Verizon fraud at all?

To me, this is the equivalent of the FBI getting a warrant to raid a crackhouse, then raiding every house on the street, too.

Can anyone think of a way in which my analogy doesn't work? Or (better yet), shouldn't work?

Why am I not hearing any apologies from anyone here who jumped all over the MPAA and FBI for something that it turns out has absolutely nothing to do with the MPAA and for which few dispute the FBI's role in investigating (i.e. interstate fraud).

Silence?

And just because AT&T and Verizon make a lot of money it should be OK to defraud them?

And why hasn't the title of the article been changed? Totally misleading considering the update.

LOL, pretty funny how everyone get's all worked up over very little information. The media writes sensationalistic (here it was Ars) and everyone comes out of the woodwork with their indignation before all the facts are in.

Even with the AT&T and Verizon angle, we still don't know everything. Yes, 911 services were interrupted but we still don't know everything. Could it have been a mistake? Dunno.

I mean, come on...let's wait a bit and lets get all the facts before we go off half-cocked and start lighting torches and storming the Bastille.

The seizure was obviously excessive. Now, two things might happen. One possibility is that it was never authorized as executed. Not much will come out of that, but the FBI _will_ get prosecuted and it _will_ lose if that's the case. It will be a slap on the wrist, it will be years from now, and no one will be held personally accountable.

The second possibility is that the judge clearly had no concept whatsoever of how excessive he was being. In this case, some lawsuits might ensue, but they will lead to nothing at all.

Society is changing fast. A seizure such as this put people at risk. It most likely killed someone. Now, if you asked the judge if he would OK killing some innocent bystander in the hopes of uncovering a purely financial crime of low magnitude, I doubt he would. But most judges have no idea this is what happens when you do massive seizures of datacenters nowadays.

Originally posted by Fritz:For those wondering why innocent customers of the data center got hit, read the CBS article linked above. The data center itself was the business targeted. The companies that used the data center services suffered due to being users of the service that AT&T and Verizon are saying was not being paid for. The original article names a few of the innocents that used this data center.

Would have been nice if the FBI could have arranged for the e911 service to be quietly relocated, but they are not known for being nice guys when a chance to get out and break things is offered.

The FBI is hardly concerned with collateral damage. If they wreck 911 services in order to save the entertainment people some money, why should they care? The FBI is not in the service of citizens - they work for whover pays them the most. At the moment this is th RIAA/MPAA/ etc. The FBI is not concerned with 911 - it's not something they are concerned with. They sell their services to the highest bidder.

What nonsense. So the FBI has enough people lying around to investigate some poor-quality Comic movie leaking on the internet, but doesn't have the balls to investigate the trillions of dollars disappearing into the hands of wealthy bankers and corporations? Slime.

You people still commenting as if this raid was actually about the movie need to read the updates and the linked article. You are making huge asses of yourselves. Ars should change the article's headline as well.

I realize there's probably some "never change original content, only post updates" kind of rule, but this is pretty bad. Break the rule, nuke the whole thing, and write about what actually happened. It's misleading as hell, the worst I've read on Ars.

Freaking sloppy Ars. Not the original posting, but the fact that the headline is still there and the correction is at the bottom of the page. This isn't some minor thing--a wrong name or date say. This is a pretty substantial change to the story. Should at least do a strikethrough on the title

Not sure I would call Ars sloppy on this one; the first claim that it was related to the Wolverine movie leak was the owner of Core IP Networks himself as the story reads:

"If Matthew Simpson, owner of Texas data center Core IP Networks, is right, Fox is indeed making good on its word. The FBI raided Simson's business and home yesterday on a search and seizure warrant, claiming "millions of dollars in computer equipment." The agency would not tell Simpson its exact reason for the investigation, only that it is "investigating a company that has purchased services from Core IP Networks in the past" which it used to pirate movies and software."

Matthew Simpson also stated (alleged?) that they sent the SWAT team to his house and had him on the phone accusing him of 'hiding out in his house' while he was (allegedly) in Pheonix. I read FBI+Wolverine on just about every major 'news' outlet and blog. Though many ran retractions or even full articles again later with this latest 'update', it's certainly not as attention-getting as the first round of stories on this.

So yes, put the burden of proof on the initial source of information that spread everywhere.

Sorry about this mistake guys. We have updated the article and the headline, but I'm pasting in the original article below for posterity.

quote:

On April Fools Day BitTorrent users were having fun thanks to leaked copies of an unfinished version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. 20th Century Fox quickly issued a statement that was the equivalent of a war cry, and the FBI raided a Texas data center, allegedly to obtain records related to Wolverine's spread.

Wolverine first leaked to BitTorrent on April Fools Day, reportedly in DVD quality. This version is said to be incomplete, however, with a number of missing scenes, unfinished special effects, and scores from other films spliced in for portions of the soundtrack. Nevertheless, the leaked Wolverine was promptly downloaded over 75,000 times within the first few hours of its premature Internet debut.

20th Century Fox issued a statement later that day about the leak, acknowledging that an "early version" of Wolverine has been "posted illegally on websites." The studio also fired a warning shot across the bow of whoever leaked it, stating that "we forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." Fox also mentions that the MPAA and FBI are investigating the crime, and that it will "prosecute the source and any subsequent postings to the fullest extent of the law."

If Matthew Simpson, owner of Texas data center Core IP Networks, is right, Fox is indeed making good on its word. The FBI raided Simson's business and home yesterday on a search and seizure warrant, claiming "millions of dollars in computer equipment." The agency would not tell Simpson its exact reason for the investigation, only that it is "investigating a company that has purchased services from Core IP Networks in the past" which it used to pirate movies and software.

According to a letter Simpson posted online, he was in Arizona at the time of the raid. The FBI has "seized all equipment belonging to our customers," and even threatened to arrest customers who arrived at the data center to try and retrieve their computers. "Currently nearly 50 businesses are completely without access to their email and data," Simpson continues. "Citizen access to Emergency 911 services are being affected, as Core IP's primary client base consists of telephone companies."

The Wolverine leak allegedly traces back to Rising Sun Pictures, an Australian visual effects studio that is working on the film. Simpson has not yet returned Ars Technica's request for comment or confirmation that Rising Sun Pictures has been a client of Core IP Networks.

Update: Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) chairman and co-founder Tony Clark released a statement on its website that RSP had nothing to do with leaking Wolverine. "As we worked on individual sequences within the film, neither RSP or its staff members have ever been in possession of a full-length version, so it would have been impossible for the movie to have been leaked from here."

In his letter, Simpson refutes the FBI's claims of affiliation with piracy. "Neither I, nor Core IP are involved in any illegal activities of any kind," Simpson states. "This company does not even colocate with us anywhere, much less 2323 Bryan Street Datacenter."

Simpson was never contacted by the FBI prior to the raid and equipment seizure, and an FBI representative did not return Ars Technica's request for comment. Still, the severity of the raid begs the question: just how badly do studios need to stop piracy? MPAA lawsuits (that turn out to give free publicity to torrent sites) are one thing, but grounding Core IP Networks has subsequently brought down everything from ISPs, to car dealerships, and E-911 access for 50 businesses and hundreds of thousands of customers.

Simpson ends his letter: "If you run a datacenter, please be aware that in our great country, the FBI can come into your place of business at any time and take whatever they want, with no reason."

Update: A new report from CBS News in Dallas finds that this FBI raid was the result of an investigation into fraud against Verizon and AT&T. Verizon discovered that "some North Texas web server providers" have been cheating the two telcoms out of an estimated $6 million dollars, and this is in fact the second FBI raid in Dallas related to this case in a month.

Originally posted by ksgant:LOL, pretty funny how everyone get's all worked up over very little information. The media writes sensationalistic (here it was Ars) and everyone comes out of the woodwork with their indignation before all the facts are in.

Even with the AT&T and Verizon angle, we still don't know everything. Yes, 911 services were interrupted but we still don't know everything. Could it have been a mistake? Dunno.

I mean, come on...let's wait a bit and lets get all the facts before we go off half-cocked and start lighting torches and storming the Bastille.

Interupting emergancy calls is not a kind of misstake you would just ignore. Especially when the reason is just tiny amount of money and FBI seems to be very good at ignoring the bankers as mentioned. I guess if the number is too big than it's not fraud but good business investment or something.

Anyway this could have been handled better. Even if Core IP is part of the fraud there is no need to fuck up every customer in their data center. What do they hope to find on those servers? Dirty e-mail? Sorted porn? But who cares about small people when verizon/ATT/MPAA/whatever rich and powerful organisation you like to name suffers...

Interupting emergancy calls is not a kind of misstake you would just ignore. Especially when the reason is just tiny amount of money and FBI seems to be very good at ignoring the bankers as mentioned. I guess if the number is too big than it's not fraud but good business investment or something.

The FBI doesn't care about 911 - it's not part of their system. The FBI is only concerned about their own agenda, which at the moment is collecting money from people who are paying for their services. And who would dare to sue the FBI? The FBI is not accountable to anyone anymore,

I think this article has pretty much split into two different issues at this point. One is on the Wolverine piracy. I couldn't care less. The movie certainly wasn't something I'd bother going to a theater for and with Netflix, there really isn't a reason to pirate anything.

On the matter of the FBI carting off a datacenter - that's completely ridiculous. If there were issues which needed to address, sure pull the servers in the datacenter of the company's responsible. Not everyone's servers.

I'm sure we don't have all the facts but at the moment, it has the smell of incompetence.